I remember that Caroline Gilmer who played Cheryl Stark in Neighbours appeared in it. Repeats of it used to be on very late at night in the mid nineties.

I think they all turned up elsewhere in various films and TV shows at some point. Karen from early on PCBH turned into Evil Auntie Gilly in Return to Eden I recall, and Helen Daniels from Neighbours played some prisoner's mum for a bit. Most shocking is Alf from Home and Away trying to kill Meg the Nice Warder, who also played a character in one of the other soaps, Neighbours I think.

It was quite a revolving door back in the day. Sort of how our soaps have now become, with ex-Corrie actors turning up in Emmerdale one week and Hollyoaks the next

I used to laugh that there must be a limited number of Aussie actors as the ones that were in Prisoner appeared in Neighbours, Sons and Daughters and Home and Away. But look at us. The same actors here switch between Eastenders, The Bill, Heartbeart, The Royal, Coronation Street etc. !!

I think they all turned up elsewhere in various films and TV shows at some point. Karen from early on PCBH turned into Evil Auntie Gilly in Return to Eden I recall, and Helen Daniels from Neighbours played some prisoner's mum for a bit. Most shocking is Alf from Home and Away trying to kill Meg the Nice Warder, who also played a character in one of the other soaps, Neighbours I think.

It was quite a revolving door back in the day. Sort of how our soaps have now become, with ex-Corrie actors turning up in Emmerdale one week and Hollyoaks the next

I used to laugh that there must be a limited number of Aussie actors as the ones that were in Prisoner appeared in Neighbours, Sons and Daughters and Home and Away. But look at us. The same actors here switch between Eastenders, The Bill, Heartbeart, The Royal, Coronation Street etc. !!

That is a very good point. That culture of actors switching from soaps seems to have have crept into our soap operas. Michelle Collins is the most recent example going from Eastenders to acting in various dramas and now returning to soap with Coronation Street. With there now being daytime soaps this makes this trend even more inevitable. For example, Doctors has seen three of it's past characters join Emmerdale. There was the character Dr. Jude Carlyle who was played by Natalie J Robb,Dr. Helen Thompson played by Corinne Wicks and Dr. Nick West played by Michael McKell. These three have now joined Emmerdale. Also, the cancellation of The Bill means that there will be a whole host of actors looking for work.

I have to say I looked through the posts above especially to see any reference to wobbling scenery. Thanks for not letting me down! For some reason it's obligatory for PCBH to be cited as having wobbling walls. Nice to see somebody keeping up the tradition of mentioning something that just wasn't true.

Alongside the discussion of the show, perhaps we could discuss why people feel the need to say that this show had wobbling scenery. Is it a kind of urban myth? Or what we would call a meme nowadays? Perhaps people say it because the production values seemed low enough to them that it's as if the wall wobbled.

i take your point but c'mon the walls did wobble from time to time But like someone else pointed out they also wobbled on Fawlty towers and other brit shows and people don't keep banging on about that, so why pick on Cell Block? But the walls definately wobbled at times, theres no doubt about that

Compared with the snail-like pace of our modern soaps, events in PCBH moved at warp speed. If you missed a single episode it was sometimes difficult to figure out all that had happened.

As far as I can recollect there was very little reported action (one character telling another about something, instead of actually showing it). In PCBH if something important happened inside or outside of Wentworth we nearly always saw it. The only obvious example of reported action I can think of was the death of Bea Smith.

What made PCBH believable was the sound. There was always a good background noise that made it believable. Whenever a scene was in the hallway, laundry and so on, it was never quiet. Some soaps always forget the little nuances that go toward making a soap believable.

Of course the fact it was character driven was great. The plots were there sure, but it's the characters that I remember the most.

I've got the whole series of it on I don't know how many discs. I bought them off an Australian eBay seller a while ago. I've not watched them yet, but I will when I'm in the mood to. Brilliant series/soap.

Edit: The best thing about Prisoner Cell Block H was that it wasn't at all realistic, which meant that you could sit on the couch/chair in comfort and watch it. Okay, there were a few uncomfortable finales, but the majority of the storylines were just fun to watch.

I remember watching this avidly with my mum in the 80s. Think it would be unwieldy to own as a box set but if some channel decided to rerun it, they'd surely have decent viewing figures. I would be watching/setting the Sky box for sure.

I used to laugh that there must be a limited number of Aussie actors as the ones that were in Prisoner appeared in Neighbours, Sons and Daughters and Home and Away. But look at us. The same actors here switch between Eastenders, The Bill, Heartbeart, The Royal, Coronation Street etc. !!

Not only that, but the same actors cropped up as multiple characters during Prisoner's run - some of them major characters, too! Judy's girlfriend Sharon, for example, was murdered in a memorable storyline, then a couple of years later the same actress popped up again playing a lesbian prison officer called Terri who had an affair with the Freak! Likewise Kirsty Child played Anne Yates, the officer who suffocated to death in a dryer early in the show - she then appeared a year or two later playing a prisoner's sister, then again a couple of years later playing Willie Beacham! These were just two of the DOZENS of recycled actors who would turn up over and over again as different characters!

Not only that, but the same actors cropped up as multiple characters during Prisoner's run - some of them major characters, too! Judy's girlfriend Sharon, for example, was murdered in a memorable storyline, then a couple of years later the same actress popped up again playing a lesbian prison officer called Terri who had an affair with the Freak! Likewise Kirsty Child played Anne Yates, the officer who suffocated to death in a dryer early in the show - she then appeared a year or two later playing a prisoner's sister, then again a couple of years later playing Willie Beacham! These were just two of the DOZENS of recycled actors who would turn up over and over again as different characters!

And actors The very well-known Ray Meagher (who plays Alf in Home and Away) appeared as Geoff Butler, the guy who blew up Jim Fletcher's wife and kids and was then shot, before reappearing years later as a mafia boss called Kurt, before making a final appearance about 200 episodes later as the evil Governor of Blackmoor, Craven! These were quite important parts, and he was a well-known actor - can you imagine if, for example, Michelle Collins reappeared in Eastenders in a couple of years playing someone else? Or Ken Morley turned up again in Corrie as someone other than Reg Holdsworth? Seems the Aussies were much more amenable to saying old favourites from the acting pool reappear, whoever they were playing

I suppose there aren't as many actors in Australia...hence why we saw Sons & Daughters actors like 'Pat the Rat' , Barbara Hamilton, Wayne Hamilton joining the ranks of Home & Away & Neighbours. The same happened with the cast from Cell Block H.
In the UK, there is no excuse, surely, for soaps sharing the same actors? Are we that desperate?

Po-Face was one of THE most under-rated officers in the show, totally overshadowed by (the admitedly excellent) Vinegar Tits and the Freak. She actually played the 'nasty' officer role after Vera left, as a kind of stop-gap before the REALLY evil Joan came in; during the Sandy Edwards/Kate Petersen era she was the bent/nasty screw. Luckily though, she softened when the Freak ruled Wentworth and became more of a firm but fair officer with a brilliantly sharp tongue. Some of her lines:

I'd like to remind the bitch.., with a SLEDGE HAMMER!

Nola: What the hell am I supposed to do out here?
Po Face: Well, you can start by pulling out the weeds.
Nola: I wouldn't know a weed from a gum tree.
Po Face: That's easy. If you get a hernia, you've pulled out a gum tree.

I really liked Po Face too, she was my favourite officer when she was there, I loved the way she always delivered her lines really sarcastically and she was a good contrast to St Meg, who used to get on my tits.

I really liked Po Face too, she was my favourite officer when she was there, I loved the way she always delivered her lines really sarcastically and she was a good contrast to St Meg, who used to get on my tits.

Yeah, Judith McGrath was a brilliant actress - I bet she'd have been a great comic actress too. Meg was very bland, but I'm glad she stuck around and provided a link at the end of the series to all that had gone before.

By the way, did you know that the actress who played the second Governor, the lovely (but less formal than Erica) Ann Reynolds, had previously appeared as a bent screw (with a rougher accent!) for a couple of episodes during Bea's stint at Barnhurst? Really surreal to watch, knowing that she was later to become the gentle and kindly-spoken Renno!

By the way, did you know that the actress who played the second Governor, the lovely (but less formal than Erica) Ann Reynolds, had previously appeared as a bent screw (with a rougher accent!) for a couple of episodes during Bea's stint at Barnhurst? Really surreal to watch, knowing that she was later to become the gentle and kindly-spoken Renno!

And she had jet black hair too, which must have been dyed because she couldn't have gone that grey in two years.

And she had jet black hair too, which must have been dyed because she couldn't have gone that grey in two years.

So she did - scraped back as Mrs Roberts, though. Seeing pictures of both Governors, I'm actually struck by how beautiful Patsy King and Gerda Nicolson were - they must have been stunners in their day and even in their 50s in the show, they were probably amongst the most attractive women ever to grave Wentworth (and Barnhurst's ) red brick corridors!